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“A new world?”
He nods. “Yeah. There are slivers between realms, little spaces connected through the power of the moon.” He tells the story casually. “She was called the Moon Goddess. Every world she found was too bright for shadow beasts. The light would kill them, turn them to ash.” He blew out a breath. “Then she found the shadow realm. It was too dark for anything to grow or survive there. So the shadow beasts would be safe, but they would die because they had no food, nothing. She created a light source from the power in her own heart, and she hung it from the sky. It meant that she lost her power, her life, but she did it for the love of us.”
This was all old news to him. His history. Ancestry. He’d found a way to disconnect from all of it. But I found myths and legends intriguing. In fact, I'd read many of them that sounded similar to his story.
“From its light, an incredible world grew and the shadow beasts found a home.” He looks around. “It’s like here. The plants are different than they are here, but she breathed life into the dark realm. And when the plants grew, animals came too. Some good animals, and some like the grave trolls. It's always like earth's night there, but a bright one. Enough to flourish. Different magical creatures continued to be born there, under our goddess's heart, where the shadow beasts live. Wherever.”
“It sounds like an amazing place.” Boy would I love to take a journal there, to etch the plants and animals, to study their sky and figure out where their moon really came from and how they can exist without a true day and night.
“It was a wonderful place. But now the light source is gone. Everything is dead in that world. The grave trolls and rot monkeys are all that’s left. The shadow beasts that have stayed behind are mindless now, stuck in their beast form, trapped in the king's control.” He’s disgusted. “There's just... nothing left because he stole the light source from the sky. Until the light source is back in the sky, the shadow world will never thrive. The goddess's sacrifice will be for nothing.”
Shadow world? Goddess's heart and sacrifice?I nod. I’ve heard it before. Not just myths similar to this one, but I believe I've actually read about their world, and old memories tickle the back of my mind. “I recall this story. Another legend, too.” It’s sketchy and in pieces. “Something about a light fae living in a world like that one.”
"Light fae?" He frowns. "No, there had never been a light fae in our world."
Hum."Well, perhaps I'm wrong."But I didn't think so...
Dusk doesn’t say more. Doesn’t say anything. He just looks behind me at the cave, which is when I realize there's a low murmur of conversation and movement. I'd been so caught up in our conversation that I hadn't noticed.
The others are awake now. Phantom joins us at the fire and eventually the others trickle out, all looking strangely well-rested and, not surprisingly, happy. There’s no danger in the day. Not right now. And after our intimate time together, we all deserve a moment of peace to let the changes we've experienced sink in.
Dusk hands out the stew in wooden bowls, and we all eat in silence for a few minutes. Not a tense silence like before, but a comfortable one. Like we're a family enjoying breakfast, or dinner.
Phantom blows on his stew, then speaks, his words obviously carefully chosen. “We need to see the elder before night falls now that we’re mated.”
At his words, Ann looks up and smiles, each of us smiling with her. Mated. Bonded.
If the prophecy is right, we're all saved.
13
Ann
The tripto the elder is short. Shorter than it was the last time we made this trip. Or, at least, that's the way it feels. In no time at all, we reach the entrance to the cave, nodding at each shadow beast that we pass guarding the area around the main cave. Making sure that the shadow king's minions can never take them by surprise, although it feels a bit pointless in the light of evening. But they've survived this long for a reason, so I don't question it.
Besides, I enjoyed the trip over. More than I would have thought. The men and I talked. Things felt... natural, calm between us for the first time. And as if to emphasize that we made the right choice, shards of the moonstone lit up along our path. My men picked them up and placed them in a pouch at Phantom's belt. Rayne made jokes, told the guys about things they could only find in our world, and the shadow beasts surprised me by expressing some interest in seeing these things for themselves.
It feels like... everyone is hopeful for the first time in a long time, and I like it. I like my men even more when I see an excitement for the future in their eyes. It also doesn't hurt that they keep touching me. A hand on my back, or on my ass. A kiss, a brush of my hair. It's like they keep coming back to me, reminding me that they're there and they love me.
A girl could certainly do worse than them.
And then, we're at the cave entrance, weaving down to the main part of the cave. I expect... I don't know what I expect, but certainly not the somber sight before us. The other men in the caves are still wounded, tired-looking men. It's as if only hours have passed since our battle with the shadow king rather than days. It makes guilt instantly awaken inside of me. While I healed my men with my touch, these men weren't as lucky. And it's not like they were in good shape before this. They seemed about to crack even before the recent battle.
Our good moods fade away. We stand together beneath the glow of the crystals that line all the walls of the cave, a short distance from a large fire in the middle. Some men are in the back of the cave in the little pool, standing beneath the waterfall, naked. These men look no happier than the ones lying on blankets near the fire. And all of their bodies show the obvious wounds they experienced in battle.
They shoot glares in our direction, and I suppose I understand it, even though I don't remember them being this angry in the past. As least not most of them. But I do get it. These are the sons of the shadow king, the man responsible for the war they’re all fighting, for the deaths of their friends, for the shells of lives they’re living as they fight his trolls and monkeys and beasts. As they bleed and ache and die.
I glance from Phantom to Dusk and Onyx, who stand together. Looks pass between them. Worry. Trepidation. Apprehension.
Phantom’s brow is creased and his eyes are wide. These are his friends. His people. And his father is killing them for the sake of power. His guilt is visual. Even in the way he carries himself. His shoulders hunch. But then, he pulls himself together. He squares his body, lifts his head. “We’re mated to this woman.”
He levels a hard gaze at each man, friend and foe, then at his brothers and me. A couple of the injured shadow beasts perk up, looking interested, but the worry is still dark in Phantom’s eyes.
One man approaches us. "Truly?"
Phantom gives a tight smile. "Truly. Just as the prophecy said, it has been done."
The shadow beasts murmur to each other, but no one else approaches. And, again, I'm surprised. I didn't exactly expect them to all leap up and cheer, but I expected some happiness. Some relief that at least one thing had gone in a good direction.
